


Courting the Warlord

by Iamnamedsilence



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime, Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015)
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Courtship, Dating, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Megatron is oblivious idiot, Memories, Mistaken Identity, Not Canon Compliant, Optimus is horny 24/7, Past Relationship(s), Renewing Relationship, Romance, Sticky Sexual Interfacing, but also very patient, mostly comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:06:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23775049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iamnamedsilence/pseuds/Iamnamedsilence
Summary: Millennia ago Megatronus and Orion Pax were young, hopeful and in love - and then the Matrix chose Orion and replaced his personality with a new one... this is at least how Megatron remembers itOptimus Prime remembers it differently: he was not replaced. He changed, yes, but who hadn't? And he never stopped loving Megatron.
Relationships: Megatron/Optimus Prime
Comments: 11
Kudos: 157





	Courting the Warlord

**Author's Note:**

> I've never seen an episode of 2015 RiD, but could it stop me from writing this, after I've seen the unused RiD Megatron design? No, it couldn't.
> 
> Consider it loosely based on the Aligned continuity.
> 
> With a special dedication to the people from this one discord server, you know which one.

The last thing Megatron planned was to meet any of the Autobots.

He heard about how the situation developed on both Earth and Cybertron. He, in fact, monitored it with lots of interest and there were situations when he was thinking if he should probably intervene – but no, the mecha was doing well and his presence could possibly only create more chaos. So he just watched, sometimes only doing the little things to bring back some balance. Sometimes it included hunting his former associates – sometimes the others.

And now, things had gotten out of control when he landed on Earth and had to stay there for a little longer than he intended. The planet itself invoked too many memories, most of them unpleasant, but he must have miscalculated the amount of fuel needed for leaving it. In the end, Megatron found himself stranded on Earth and looking for energon in one of the old mines his Decepticons once had operated. This was how the Autobots found him.

And now he was standing in front and Bumblebee and what was apparently his new team, all the mecha looking at him with surprise, optics wide, weapons in their hands, ready to fight.

Nothing surprising here. Not every day you find the enemy you had fought for millennia just roaming on the planet you are trying to protect. Megatron would definitely behave the same way in their place.

And, while Megatron didn’t have the opportunity to meet some of the mecha from the team, Bumblebee recognized Megatron instantly, despite the changes in the frame, and his eyes narrowed. He stepped forward, ready to attack.

Megatron didn’t intend to give him any reason to fight. Detaching the canon would take a long while, so he just changed the stance to a less-threatening one.

„I mean no harm,” he said. „I was just in need of fuel. Let me get some and I will leave the planet.”

He didn’t really expect this to work. Too many things happened in the past, he couldn’t blame the Autobots for seeing an enemy in him.

„There is no such thing as you being just in need of fuel and just leaving the planet, Megatron. And we all know that.”

This was not the best idea ever, but Megatron couldn’t stop himself from smirking and that made the Autobots even more mistrustful.

„So what are you going to do with me? Attack, when I have no intention to fight you?”

„I am going to arrest you. If you have no intention to fight us, then you will come with us without giving us any trouble.”

Megatron sighted. There was no going out of it. All right then.

He reached out to the latches attaching the cannon to his arm. Bumblebee rose his weapon again.

„I just want to take it off. I believe you would prefer me unarmed.”

Bumblebee agreed and ordered the mech named Strongarm to take the cannon. None of the Autobots hid their weapon. Wise choice. Megatron was capable even without the cannon and everyone knew that. He was still imposing, in the new frame, that was not covered in sharp edges anymore, but was still built for fighting, with massive arms and legs. Beside him, the Autobots looked small.

But he agreed to go with them. This was not what he wanted, but what choice did he actually have?

What were they going to do with him? He didn’t expect to be executed, not right away anyway, not by this group of mecha. They were probably going to send him to Cybertron and prepare something for him there. With little luck, ha could escape by then, hopefully without unnecessary casualties.

This was what Megatron was thinking when the Autobots took him to the base. What he hadn’t thought about was who was waiting there. And that, that was a fatal miscalculation.

Because he really didn’t expect to meet Optimus Prime.

Not that it was a total shock, but nevertheless – Optimus’ death was something Megatron just accepted and accepted with relief as well, as with sadness. This was a chapter of his life that was over and Megatron never expected to return to this.

But there he was, face to face with an old enemy, blue optics glowing from above the mask, the frame unchanged, the same colors, the same familiar shape, that painfully reminded him of another familiar shape.

There was something inside Megatron’s subsystems, that reacted with the rush of happiness to this encounter. There was also something that twisted painfully.

They looked at each other for a long while and the rest of the Autobots stood there watching and definitely waiting for the Prime to do something. And definitely so did Megatron.

The Prime watched him carefully, the optics analyzing the new frame, and Megatron felt a little uncomfortable. But then the Prime let his mask slide aside and he smiled.

Megatron felt another unpleasant twist inside. This smile, this face, this was like a mockery to him. He never thought he would react this way, but apparently, that was all that remained – the feeling of loss, he used to hide under the hatred. But now the hatred was gone – the Prime wasn’t and his smile was still Orion’s smile.

„Megatron,” the Prime said. „I haven’t expected you here.”

„Neither have I, Prime” Megatron answered. This was his chance to talk himself out of the situation. „As I tried to explain your Autobots, I was just in need of some fuel. If I can get some of it, I could leave Earth and you will never see me again.”

Something twitched in the Prime’s face as if he didn’t like those words.

„I have no reason to keep you,” he said.

„Optimus!” Bumblebee protested. „This is Megatron! Are you really going to let him go like this?”

„He is not at war against us anymore. He is free of the madness and of Unicron’s taint. I see no reason to make him stay.”

The Autobots looked at their Prime, definitely not convinced.

„This is still Megatron” someone protested. „He started the war! What if he finds the Decepticons to lead them again?”

The Prime looked at Megatron and Megatron shook his head. He said nothing. He was not here to convince anybody.

„He will not” the Prime stated.

„How do you know?” one of the young mecha, this Strongarm, asked.

The others followed her, shouting, protesting. The Prime needed to raise his voice to silence them.

„I knew Megatron before he became the enemy,” the Prime said. „I know when we can trust him. We can now.”

Megatron winced. „I knew him before” - but it was Orion who knew him, Orion Pax, not Optimus Prime.

He did not comment on that. He saw, however, that the Autobots are displeased.

„I have a suggestion, Prime” he offered. Damn. He didn’t need to complicate that, but on the other hand, he wanted to leave and didn’t need the Autobots to remain overly worried. „I can stay, for a while. Give you time to decide on my fate.”

There was again a weird expression on the Prime’s face. Hopeful? No, this was an illusion. Megatron shouldn’t read his face as he would Orion’s. The resemblance was misleading.

„This is a solution that might benefit us all,” the Prime said. „I accept the offer. And I promise you, that as long as you won’t give us reasons, no harm will come to you.”

„He will give us reasons.” one other mech, a red one, said.

They went away, some of them looking at Megatron suspiciously.

Megatron realized they had left him alone with the Prime.

„Well, I’m glad you made this offer,” the Prime said. He was still smiling and Megatron needed to fight the conflicted feelings overcoming him at the sight of this smile.

This was Orion’s smile, it had Orion’s sweetness, Orion’s innocence even.

Orion didn’t exist anymore. The Matrix had overwritten him, creating this new personality for its use, the perfect Prime. There was one moment when Orion returned, and Megatron had hope then, to get him back, but he knew now, this was impossible. It was the time to accept the fact, that Orion was as good as dead.

This was also the time to accept, that Optimus Prime was not an „artificial” personality. Yes, he was created by the Matrix, but after all those millennia it would be unfair to treat him this way any longer. He was real now, he had mecha who needed him, who loved him, friends – some of them were Orion’s friends before and they accepted Optimus. So it was time for Megatron to accept him as well.

Not that they were going to be friends. This was never going to happen, but Megatron didn’t really expect that.

„I thought it was reasonable,” he said.

The Prime nodded.

„I see. But I also hope, that while you are still here we could spend some time together.”

Megatron blinked. He didn’t expect that.

„Why would we...”

There was another smile, that made his spark clench painfully.

„Because it had been a really long time since we last had the opportunity to talk… to really talk. And I missed it.”

Megatron vented sharply.

This was… this was almost like it was Orion speaking.

It was Orion, who liked to talk to him. Brilliant, intelligent Orion who recognized a low caste mech as his equal, really spend so many hours with him, talking, discussing philosophy, literature, politics with him, arguing, making plans… and then, when they got together, they were discussing them in the berth, their frames still tangled together and…

They were young, they were full of hope and they were in love and all of this was gone, and now Optimus Prime dared to mock this saying he missed Megatron when he couldn’t because he wasn’t there.

In the past, Megatron would react to that with aggression – now he knew better. The Prime might have some other reasons to say that, and they didn’t have to be malicious.

„I can talk with you” he agreed „As long as I am among you, you are by far the only one, who wants to talk to me.”

The Prime looked… disappointed?

„If you want to be left alone, then...”

„No,” Megatron said. „I actually think a discussion with you could be stimulating. We never had a chance to do it, and maybe it is indeed the time for it.”

The Prime smiled.

„I’m happy to hear that. Come. It's time you really refueled, and the energon we have is decent.”

Megatron followed to what turned out to be the Prime’s private quarters in the base: makeshift, like everything else here, but who would complain, they both had seen worse places to recharge over the millennia of their existence.

It was weird, to be like this, alone with the Prime. Megatron was still used to the thought that every interaction between them ended with the fight. And when he once had the Prime on board of Nemesis…

...This was not the Prime, but Orion, then, Orion smiling at him with this sweet hopeful smile, Orion touching his hand, brushing the clawed fingers with his own. And Megatron, still mad then, for a moment believed he could have it again, he could have Orion again.

Why couldn’t he just let it go?

Maybe because the Prime’s smile was, too, sweet and hopeful, and because he felt the cables under his armor getting tense, as the Prime handed him a cube and his fingers for a very brief moment touched Megatron’s hand. This was not deliberate and the Prime probably didn’t notice, what effect did it have.

If he noticed, he would be appaled, Megatron realized.

In the past, when they were fighting against each other, sometimes Megatron’s hand… slipped. Not always accidentally. He loved the Prime’s shocked expressions then. He loved to think about what he would do if allowed to…

But those were fantasies of a twisted, tainted mind and even recalling them now was wrong.

He accepted the cube, pretending the brief touch had never happened.

The Prime kept smiling.

„So. How have you been doing?” he asked.

„Good. You? I see you didn’t die.”

„The Thirteen needed me back so here I am. I was not allowed to die.” there was little irony in his voice and Megatron appreciated that.

„I was blessed by Unicron, you by the Thirteen… it seems they need us for something, every time.”

„I… I hope Unicron doesn’t need you anymore.”

Megatron smiled.

„No worries. I’m not going to fall for his promises again. I feel like my head cleared. I could say, I am myself again.”

„Good” the Prime stated. „And, may I say, your new frame is… really impressive.”

He gave a glance to Megatron’s shoulders, down to the narrow waist, then a little more down, towards the hips and tights and if this was any other mech, Megatron would be convinced he is being checked out. But when the Prime was looking at Megatron in a way, that… that… Megatron really couldn’t understand it.

But soon he forgot about it, as they started to talk – to really talk, to his surprise and the conversation flowed, starting with Cybertron’s current politics – the Prime asked Megatron on his opinions and he actually listened to him. They argued a little about which way of acquiring and distributing energon would be the best for the needs of the growing populace. They discussed the corruption in the government and in which way it resembled the pre-war situation – and how to avoid the return of the old system, despite the fact there were still the mecha, who would gladly see it return. Then somehow they started to discuss the newest Cybertronian literature.

At one moment Megatron forgot who is he sitting here. He was with Orion again, another long discussion, that will soon be interrupted with kissing and passionate interfacing, so that they could return to the previous topics again.

And wasn’t that Orion’s fingers wrapped around his, here, on the table, Orion’s thumb brushing the inside of Megatron’s palm…

For a brief moment, Megatron’s processor tried to analyze why this is wrong and failed and Megatron was ready to answer to this touch, to lean over the table, to kiss the other mech… and then he realized it was not Orion in front of him but Optimus Prime.

He withdrew his hand, sudden disgust and anger overflowing him. It was different to fantasize about humiliating the enemy back when he wasn’t entirely sane and different to engage in something so intimate… And his programming still labeled the Prime as „pretender” and „false”, as something created in an unnatural way. How dared this… this thing touching him this way?

Not a thing, he reminded himself. I decided to accept him as a person. And that the Prime did something like this, this really didn’t have to mean anything bad…

Especially that the Prime’s face was utterly surprised at Megatron’s reaction. He withdrew his hand as well.

„I did something wrong.” The Prime said. „I am sorry. I didn’t mean to…” he stopped, not really sure, what to say.

He possibly didn’t understand why Megatron reacted the way he did.

„What was that?” Megatron asked, too fast, to harsh, maybe, but he was still fighting anger and disgust.

„I did not mean to break your boundaries. I only had hope...”

„Hope for what?” Pit, was it this? Those glances before, the touches, was the Prime attracted to him? This was, Megatron had to admit, a little flattering. „Are you attracted to me?” he decided to ask outright.

„Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I…?”

Megatron laughed.

„Listen, I’m flattered, really, and you are an attractive mech, but this is not going to go anywhere. I admit, when I talked to you, it was almost as if I talked to Orion and got carried away...”

The Prime sat there in silence. He blinked slowly.

He has no idea, Megatron understood.

„Orion Pax,” Megatron said. „You are aware of who he was? He had the frame you are using. He was my… we were in love. Before you appeared. I could never get over this. I thought you knew it.”

The Prime blinked again. He looked like his cognitive functions were experiencing severe failure.

„What…?”

„Orion” Megatron repeated, feeling annoyed. How couldn’t the Prime understand something so simple? Was he unaware of how he was created? „Orion Pax. The archivist for Iacon. The Matrix chose him and used him to create you. Do you have problems with understanding that?”

„I… I understand, Megatron, but at the same time... I don’t? You speak of Orion as if he was a different person, but I am Orion!”

Now it was Megatron who blinked. His cognitive functions tried to comprehend what he had just heard.

„What…?” it was now he, who asked that.

„You really… Megatron, I’m trying to understand. Please, say again, the thing about me and the Matrix.”

Not „me, the Matrix and Orion”, Megatron noted.

This still was beyond his cognitive functions.

„The Matrix chose Orion,” he said, slowly. „It took him and created you, using his frame...”

„But you speak like there were two different mecha. Which is not true. I am not different from what I was in the past when I used the name Orion Pax. My frame is bigger, yes, and I have the Matrix, but I still have the same spark, the same memories, I’m no more a different person than you are after so many millennia, your madness and this frame change.”

„They told me, that the Matrix had...” Megatron said it slowly, carefully forming every single word. „Rewritten Orion. Removed him. Created Optimus Prime. A new person. A perfect bearer designed for carrying this blasted piece of...”

He stopped, feeling the anger again. The old anger, burning in him. The dream of using the Matrix’ power to rebuild society – gone. Orion – taken from him, forever lost. This new person who replaced Orion – an enemy.

What if all of this was not true?

The Prime – Optimus – Orion? This was confusing – shook his head.

„This was not what happened. This was completely not what happened.”

„Then what did happen?” Megatron insisted.

„It changed me, yes, gave new frame, more insight, more power, but overall… this is still me. This was always me. Who had told you, that I was… rewritten?”

Megatron remembered and in a horrible way this started to make sense now.

Who had told him? And who had an interest in convincing an easy to anger revolution leader, that his partner, his ally, the love of his life isn’t there anymore? If the newly ascended Prime, who was indeed going against the repressive system kept a dangerous revolutionary by his side…

There were too many mecha, who benefited from feeding Megatron the delusion. Why couldn’t he see it? How did it happen, that he was so prone to this lies then?

He felt anger stirring again, this time at those who made him believe that Orion Pax is gone and Optimus Prime is his enemy. Those mecha were dead now, some of them – of Megatron’s own hand, but he wanted so much to kill them once again.

He growled and slammed his fist against the table. It left a deep dent in the not-so firm metal.

„I was used!”

The Prime – Orion – Optimus – looked at him, concerned.

„I was used,” Megatron repeated, sitting down again.

The other mech reached out for him, carefully stroked the back of his hand. This time Megatron didn’t escape. This touch was soothing.

„You were” he admitted. „I’m sorry. I had no idea… I tried to reach out to you and I couldn’t understand why you don’t want to listen to me. Now I know. This explains so much… If only I knew.”

„Now it is too late to regret it.”

What was lost was lost. There was no going back.

„I understand now, why you behaved like this when I lost my memory… I thought you wanted to use me...”

But I wanted, Megatron almost said. And I used you.

But the other mech – Megatron’s processor kept struggling with designation and labeling – meant something different: this hope, this happiness, yes, tainted by what was happening with Megatron then, but still…

And he remembered the amnesiac Orion approaching him, taking his hand, kissing his fingers, looking into his eyes in a way, that promised so much – and himself looking for excuses, despite his cooling fans were close to malfunctioning and interface equipment was sending request after request. But the happiness form having Orion back was mixed with hatred for Optimus Prime and fear of losing Orion again and whatever was then left of Megatron’s decency stopped him from using the situation in one way more.

„I was happy to have Orion… you… Orion… back.”

„I noticed. And now I am happy to have you back.”

„I noticed.”

He looked down at the table where their hands touched. It was so strange, with the last couple million years, with the confusing labeling, with everything.

Megatron thought, that he should be happy now, that he should feel something resembling that back on Nemesis.

And he felt hope, some kind of hope, yes, but also too much pain, too much anger, too much of everything else, and his systems weren’t able to accept the fact that the mech he once loved and the mech he fought for millennia were the same person all the time.

He withdraws his hand again, only now slowly, without anger or disgust, more with confusion.

„What do you actually want?” he asked.

„I hoped… since you are back to your senses and since you are here, and since you know what really happened… I hoped that maybe we could somehow get back together. I know it is foolish of me, but I’ve never stopped loving you.”

This was too much. Megatron offlined his optics for a moment, unable to look at the other mech. All those millennia, all those millennia the person whom he hated and wanted to kill…

How much he would love to simply accept this confession and get his lost love back. But when he looked back again at the mech in front of him, it was Optimus Prime again, created by the Matrix, his sworn enemy.

And it was Orion Pax at the same time. The lost Orion, who was never lost at all.

„I… I am grateful for this. For your confession. For you willing to give me a chance, despite everything. And you said you love me… This is a lot. And I cannot accept it. You loved me for all this time, while I… there is no continuity for me. You… You are Orion, my Orion, yes, but accepting your love… I cannot ignore what happened. I know you cannot ignore it too, but somehow you are able to love me despite this” he smirked. „This is so very much like you. You always had so much kindness in you, so much readiness to forgive. This is not me. And I still cannot see those… two sides of you as one person. I can accept this is how it always had been, but it just doesn’t work for me.”

„I understand.” the other mech nodded. „I won’t push. I’m happy that we explained it to each other.”

„Yes” Megatron agreed. „Please, talk to your Autobots, give me fuel supply and let me leave this planet. You will never see me again. Perhaps this is the best choice.”

Here I am, hurting him again, he thought.

I was hurting him for all the millennia. Apologizing now won’t help.

***

The Autobots demanded to make Megatron stay. Letting the former enemy go was too much risk for them. And some of them really wanted to use the opportunity, trying to provoke Megatron, trying to make him lose his temper, give reasons to attack him.

It was hard sometimes, he never was a paragon of patience and forgiveness – someone else was, obviously. But he wasn’t going to fall for the obvious – and also a very clumsy provocation. This was below his dignity – and also, he would disappoint Optimus this way, and he certainly didn’t want that. At least that he could do.

He couldn’t stop himself from using this little time he had to continue the discussion with Optimus. This might have been not the wisest idea ever, but he couldn’t help it and Optimus also was happy to just sit and talk. And, in the end, they both were responsible mecha and learned from their own mistakes – they could not act upon all the disappointment. They didn’t act upon the past hostility after all.

Yes, there still were those small gestures Optimus made: one smile too much, a compliment, a soft look in his optics. But they were too small and not invasive enough that Megatron would ask explicitly for them to stop. Why would he even, when he enjoyed them? And they were too small to really make any harm, especially when Megatron pretended to ignore them. Well maybe, just maybe he returned the smiles sometimes, hoping, they will be understood as smiles – it was not easy with his face covered in scratches and scars. Maybe he let his voice go softer sometimes, but no one would notice it anyway, because no one would expect him to be able to speak this way, so probably it was just mistaken for vocalizer malfunction. At least that was what he hoped for.

He wasn’t going to stay for long, he kept saying to himself, but as the Autobots argued what security measures should be taken, Megatron just felt maybe a little happy with the situation. And that Optimus Prime could easily make a decision for his mecha? Well, he didn’t attempt to.

Sometimes Megatron started to think, that those imperfections of democratic decisions just worked in someone’s favor. His? Or Optimus’? Of both of them?

Then, because it was apparently never supposed to be easy, some idiotic remnant of the Decepticons’ former glory appeared. What was his name? Silverhorn? Saberhorn? Something like that. In the past, Megatron had never really considered him particularly promising. Now it seemed he was able to gather some mecha and strike against the Autobot base on Earth.

The younger ‘Bots, of course, started to suspect this was a trap. But at least they knew better than to argue again what should have been done with Megatron and rushed to defend themselves – and local sentient organic lifeforms, of course.

In the chaos that ensued Megatron could just take the fuel he needed and leave for good. The Prime wouldn’t really mind. The rest… well, at least they were too occupied to stop him.

But in the end, he found himself in the middle of the battle, a standing out massive silhouette of dark gray and red between brightly colored mecha.

Saberhorn or Silverhorn, or whatever his designation was, just stood there, the gun pointed out at the Prime. He noticed Megatron with surprise – and reacted as every loyal enough Decepticon should.

„Lord Megatron? This is unexpected! I am at your command.”

Megatron just rolled his optics, approached, passing the absolutely furious Autobots and Optimus Prime who might have been a little afraid now, not that Megatron didn’t understand that.

He decided not to talk. Talking was a waste of his time and processing powers. So he just punched Saberhorn or Silverhorn straight in his face, feeling the metal cracking under his fist.

Well, this confirmed that Saberhorn or Silverhorn was not really worth his attention in the past.

The rest of the battle was quick when the Autobots realized their „prisoner” is now an unexpected ally. Soon the attackers were running away and the local sentient organics started to leaving their shelters to see what really happened. Megatron retreated. Those creatures starting to think of him as some kind of a „hero” would be too much. He definitely wasn’t doing this for their attention.

Well, he wasn’t doing this for anyone's attention, it was just that Saberhorn or Silverhorn, or whatever his designation was, was an idiot.

To be honest, for a brief moment Megatron really considered taking the fuel and flying away now, while the others were still occupied. He didn’t do it. He just waited patiently for Autobots to return.

They… they smiled at him. As if he did something worthy of their approval. Well, to be honest, this Silverhorn, Saberhorn or something was attacking the Prime, but the Prime was capable enough to take care of himself, he hadn’t been in need of help… although, when Megatron saw him smiling for a moment he wished there was a real danger out there.

He remembered Orion admiring his fights. A treacherous thought crept to Megatron processor, that possibly this admiration could be something Optimus still experienced.

„Thank you for helping us,” Optimus said.

„You would do good without me.”

„Possibly. But thank you anyway. You didn’t have to do this. You could as well use the opportunity to leave.”

„Well, I didn’t as you can see,” Megatron said, trying to avoid those blue optics watching him closely. „I went with you, punched this idiot in the face, that is not an act of epic heroism that deserves all those excessive prises.”

But the Autobots seemed to be impressed. Provocations stopped – and while no one trusted Megatron, they were a little more friendly right now. And somehow they also stopped the endless discussions of what to do with him. Like they just accepted his presence in their base, like somehow he was, a little, one of them.

Which was ridiculous, because he clearly was not, and if anyone would expect him to wear the red badge now…

Soon after that fight, Sideswipe asked, if Megatron is going to leave now. Megatron muttered something about staying a little bit longer and tried to make an excuse that would make sense, but everything he could come out with was, that it was impolite to leave the mecha once fought side by side. Somehow the Autobots accepted it as a valid excuse.

„I’m happy you are not leaving yet,” Optimus Prime said. „I value your company, our discussions, and your insight. It is refreshing. It always was.”

„Don’t overdo it” Megatron answered. „Because I might decide this amount of sweetness is making my tanks rusting from the inside.”

But he smiled – or smirked, proper smiles looked weird on his face. And Optimus laughed.

„I will make my best, but it would be hard not to be honest. Care for a short trip?”

There were, as always, mixed feelings, but Megatron’s more reasonable subsystems didn’t expect any treachery. This was the Prime, not Starscream, after all.

„If you insist.”

„Then follow me.”

There was a seashore not very far away. The sun was setting and the water glistered and Megatron must have admitted, that this awful planet had some beauty in it. He could even accept it being covered with organic vegetation, although he thought that crystals would look much better in place of trees. Well, not that there were many living crystals on Cybertron the last time he was there. His doing, unfortunately.

„I can see the appeal of this planet,” he said, as they both returned to the root modes. „I still think you love it too much, but, I guess you are allowed to have a hobby. Good that you still remember your own people.”

„I couldn’t forget my people.”

„Because of the rusty relic?”

The Prime shook his head.

„We discussed that already. You know well I was like this before.”

„We discussed it, so no need to returning to this,” Megatron answered.

He didn’t like where this discussion was going.

„I think there is a need. I wanted to ask you, where are we? Do you still have problems to accept that I am Orion?”

There was no possibility to hide anything. When Megatron looked at the other mech, there was no dissonance anymore. All the smiles, all the gestures – this was the continuation of what he knew from the earlier, happier life.

„It is getting better” Megatron admitted. „Why are you asking?”

There was a sudden, wide smile, and then Megatron felt fingers around his hand.

He jerked away.

„I thought we discussed this too!”

„We did. But I noticed several things in your behavior. And I’m wondering if that was just a coincidence, or…?”

„Well, like you were innocent,” Megatron answered.

Well, this was a mistake. Admitting he noticed all the little things was admitting that his own gestures were the answers, not accidents.

„So we agree on this. And, that we are happy in each other company, aren’t we?”

„Where are you going with this, Prime?” Megatron asked, sharply.

„You are right, you know. There is no going back to what we had left in the past. We are no young anymore. We had lost our innocence. We had committed terrible crimes. Simply returning to what was would be lying to each other. I don’t want to lie to you, Megatron. I want to be honest with you. And being honest means I cannot pretend. So I have a proposition.”

„I will not like it.”

„You will decide. And you don’t have to accept it, but...” he touched Megatron’s hand again, then, as Megatron didn’t withdraw it, he let their fingers wave together. „Listen, I was once a young mech working as an archivist in Iacon, I think you remember it well. And I met someone. He was a gladiator and a former miner, a low caste mech, but he was brilliant, charismatic and passionate and I was really smitten with him. He was also” Optimus smiled, and Megatron felt the wires under his armor getting tense in anticipation. „Extremely attractive. Gorgeous. He might have been low caste, but I believed that he was outside my reach. But despite that, I decided to take my chance. I courted him and in the end, I managed to seduce him. I believe you remember that too?”

The smile didn’t disappear, and Megatron found out his hand was now pressed to Optimus chestplate, just above the spark.

„I remember something slightly different,” he said, trying not to give away, that he was tense and that his frame was starting to run hot. „I remember an archivist in Iacon, but if he was trying to seduce me? I swept him off his feet, but, maybe...”

„I did it. I remember it correctly. So, my proposition is: I did it once, I want to try to do it again. I want to court you. Will you accept it?”

Megatron stared for a longer while, trying to form a word, any word. There was no answer to that, that would be good enough.

He should say no. But he couldn’t. And he didn’t want to.

Well, let Unicron claim him again if this fails because then there will be nothing left anymore.

„Yes.”

And then Optimus Prime took his hand and kissed it, on the wrist, where delicate cables were visible in the seam by the joint.

Megatron’s cognitive functions stopped for a moment. And then he heard an embarrassing click, as his cooling fans started.

„We will take it slow. We will get to know each other, from the beginning, again. We will give each other time. To get used to this. To react to any mistakes we can make.” Optimus said. He was still holding Megatron’s hand, stroking the inside of the palm and those wires he had just kissed. This really didn’t help for the fans. „You still are gorgeous, you know? This new frame? Those shoulders? The wings on your back? Everything…” His optics strode down, towards the waist, hips, and tighs, and that the words didn’t express this wasn’t really helpful. „I noticed it at the moment you appeared again. This was one of my first thoughts, you know? That after all those millennia you still are the most attractive mech I have ever met in my life.”

At this moment Megatron has to shut the fans down. Taking it slow, Unicron curses it.

He muttered something about the size of Optimus’ frame being „impressive”, in an attempt to answer the compliments. He remembered, that in the past Orion tended to do the same.

He remembered himself being the one to seduce – to conquer – Orion, but apparently, Optimus’ memory suggested otherwise. So once he was alone he went through his deep memory, looking for files that would show how the situation looked like back then, really looked like back then. Because he was aware, that the files he had chosen to replay in his darkest hours were just a selection. And now it stroke him, how weird this selection was, how it ignored some aspects of this past relationship. How it presented Orion as passive and how much stress it put on Megatron’s possessive and conquering side.

He used to replay the memories of Orion pressed down, screaming under him, but this was not how their interfacing looked all the time. And, definitely, Orion’s behavior recorded in even older files confirmed what Optimus told. Orion had been seducing him: and not by plying shy and innocent.

Megatron had suspicions, why he had chosen to replay those particular memories and let the other ones to fall into obscurity. It had much to do with hatred for the Prime: but at the same time, it took Orion his agency.

It also helped to keep Megatron convinced that Orion and Optimus were two different people.

He sat for a long while, his processor trying to sort the information from this new perspective. It was like he remembered his relationship with Orion… wrong. No, not wrong: incompletely.

How much he was missing. How different this past looked now, from a different perspective. How much sense it made now, that Orion was never gone.

Megatron started to replay some of the files over and over again, finding something new every time. This was painful – but it was also bringing joy when he thought of Optimus’ lips touching his wrist and of this hunger hidden in the blue eyes. Optimus could say he wanted to go slow, but the truth was, Megatron was now not sure if they manage it… Maybe it was a challenge though?

But he could, for now, replay the files recording their interfacing and he did it – all those he used to ignore, with Orion active and bold. How small Orion was, back then! Now Megatron couldn’t stop thinking of how it would feel to be with someone larger, closer to his size. Optimus’ hands were big enough to cover his waist now. And Optimus was looking at this waist, Unicron curse it.

Did Optimus keep those old files too? Had he been replaying them, hidden in that old base on the desert, after the battles? Megatron’s fans kicked in rapidly, but at least he was alone, so he didn’t have to hide it. He could just lay back and slide his panels open. He needed to bite hard on his own arm to muffle the scream as he overloaded.

Going slow. Right. As an exercise in patience, maybe.

***

As Megatron never paid much attention to the finish and shine of his plating, he forgot, that there was a bite mark on his arm that he probably should buff off. Most mecha at the base didn’t notice it, but Optimus did and although he said nothing, he smiled and risen the brow ridge.

Megatron felt as if his attempt of hiding what he had been during the previous night had failed. He felt embarrassed, so he started to search for some embarrassing marks on the Prime’s frame, but all he had found was perfectly shiny paint and Megatron had to force himself to stop thinking, that this paint was too shiny and that something should be done with that. And while the bitemarks remained unnoticed, Megatron looking at the Prime in a more intense way was something the ‘Bots saw immediately.

They started to talk. Optimus was already spending lots of time with Megatron, and them leaving the base together was not something usual. And maybe most of the mecha here were too young, but the rumors, that in the past the two of them were not friends but lovers were already known.

„Can you stop your mecha talking?” Megatron asked, after hearing several comments murmured behind his back. In the past, it had happened, that he had thrown some vehicons out of Nemesis for too many comments. He even remembered a flyer, whose wings he had torn off before the throwing. He obviously couldn’t do the same with the Prime’s selected elite of… something. But the thought was appealing.

„How would it be helpful?”

„This is private.”

„Well, there isn’t exactly a place here to hide it,” Optimus remarked. „In the past, in Iacon, we were able to keep it secret, even with your celebrity status, but the city was big, hiding was easier. Maintaining a secret relationship in such a small community is pointless.”

„This is not a relationship.”

„Yet.”

Megatron growled and wanted to protest, but it would be pointless anyway and he knew it.

„You are enjoying it.” he accused the Prime. „If you could, you would take me to Iacon to show off as your conquest.”

„Not without your consent. And I promise you, no rumor is going to leave this planet. This much my Autobots understand, and they also know this would be bad for me, at least at the moment… But if you are interested in remembering the thrill of having a secret relationship…” Optimus’ eyes glowed in a dangerous way „Then I know what kind of date I can take you to.”

„Date?” Megatron asked.

„It’s a human term for two people, who are meeting and doing things together when they are in relationship… or courting. Well?”

„What do you have in mind?”

„A surprise, but I believe you will like it. I will need some time to arrange things, but I think it will be worth it.”

„I allowed you to court me, so I saying now right now would be against my own decision.”

And against what I want, Megatron thought but didn’t say it.

Optimus smiled widely.

„Great. Then give me a couple of days,” he said, and, blast him, he took Megatron’s hand for a kiss again.

Megatron found himself waiting with some kind of anticipation for what Optimus actually planned for them. Out of curiosity, he researched the human term Optimus used, but knowledge of the organic courtship process was confusing and probably counted as something he really didn’t want to know.

Luckily, this knowledge wasn’t needed to understand Optimus’ actions.

Finally, Optimus arranged whatever he needed to.

„How much do you trust me?” he asked, inevitably leading Megatron towards the Space Bridge.

„As much, as you give me reasons too. What are you planning, Prime?”

„I want to take you somewhere on Cybertron. It is a little risky, but I arranged things so no one should spot us. I want everything else to be a surprise, but I don’t want you to think I am taking you there to get you arrested or imprisoned. You know this would contradict the intentions I have for you.”

Megatron nodded slowly.

„I appreciate the warning. I’m guessing getting my canon back is out of the question?”

„You will get it once we are back on Earth,” Optimus promised. „We had been keeping you unarmed long enough. But if someone catches us, then I will take responsibility.”

„Why are you taking the risk anyway?”

„You would like to see our planet, wouldn’t you?”

„Yes,” Megatron agreed. „Last time I was there, it was all ruins.”

„It’s not like this anymore. You will see it. Come.”

He took Megatron’s hand. This tendency was terribly sentimental, but Megatron had already found the analogous situations from the past in his forgotten files and he must have admitted it was quite nice. He felt a little as if he was young again.

The other side of the space bridge was dark, and at first, seeing no lights, no mecha around, Megatron thought, that maybe everything he had heard was lies and Cybertron was still a dead planet.

But no. There were lights around, a living, populated city. Only the alleys Optimus led him through remained empty. The Prime’s authority must have gotten them closed for the usual crowd and Megatron wanted to protest at this obvious abuse of power, but on the other hand, he could not be impressed by it.

„Just promise me, that you won’t do that again.”

„I won’t. The mecha here don’t need any more chaos than they had already experienced. But I think you deserve to see at least this little piece of Cybertron. Look.”

They stood somewhere high, with the panorama of the city below them. It glowed with many lights, less probably than in the times before the war, but it was not ruined anymore. And although the skyline had changed, Megatron saw, he was in Iacon.

This city had never really liked him, full of privileged mecha – and of mecha deceived into believing their lower status is to blame on even lower castes, not on those, who ruled the society. They scorned Megatron, when he was a miner, admired him, when he was a winning champion of countless gladiatorial matches, and then hated and feared him when he was a revolutionary.

But in Iacon he also had found the love of his life and now, millennia later, he stood here with the same mech and he found out he was smiling.

„Do you like it?” Optimus asked.

„It is alive again. I hope, it is a better society, that it was then.”

„They are doing their best not to make the same mistakes again. We will see, but there is hope, that the peace will last. There are still those, who think the castes were good, I think we will never get rid of them. And, well, Why do you think I consulted you when we discussed politics lately? I try to suggest some of the ideas you gave me to the new council. I got only one comment that it sounds like Megatron said it by far.”

„Oh. There will be more of them, you know.”

„If needed, I will remind them, how we influenced one another in the past, and in how many moments you were right.”

„We could have ruled this planet together...” Megatron couldn’t help but say.

This, this would be perfect. His hunger for power satisfied and his beloved by his side.

„Do you want to make it happen now?” Optimus asked.

„No. And maybe it was not such a great idea as I believed. But sometimes I used to dream how would it be… well, striving for it now is pointless. This is a nice „date”. Thank you.”

„Oh, you think it is over?” Optimus asked. His smile was… almost mischievous.

„What now?”

„Come. I’ll show you.”

He led Megatron to a building, that looked vaguely familiar, despite they approached it from the back entrance… or maybe exactly because of that, Megatron realized, because he remembered entering this place for the first time through this door exactly. And it was Orion’s hand then, that guided him, and his presence here was not exactly legal as well.

The next time he came here, the roof didn’t exist anymore, Iacon already in ruins.

„We are at the archives,” he said.

„Yes, yes we are. I remember you liked it here and I remember you needed to go too soon last time.”

Last time, Megatron though, it was still burning after my seekers bombed it, and he was searching… for something. Maybe Orion’s shadow between the shelves.

The walls were in place again, and so was the roof, end there were the endless walls of shelves with the records, well, more of them empty, than he remembered, not everything survived the war.

He had been here with Orion, against the rules, early in their relationship – no, this had been before they had become lovers, but he already had wanted the archivist, and, apparently, this was mutual and Orion leading him there was already planning something.

„There were things I believed you’d like,” Optimus said. „I didn’t manage to show all of them to you, and some of them didn’t exist anymore, but of those that survived… Come.”

The archive was silent and dark. A night cycle, most mecha recharging. Good time to sneak someone illegal into the public building, a good time to conspire with the enemy of the state. Megatron smirked. The first visit was a conspiration too, search for resources… but it seemed that Orion had some private motifs then as well.

„There,” Optimus said, picking one datapad from the shelves. „This used to be my favorite. It still is. Do you think it is fate it survived? Listen.”

Megatron knew some of the phrases of the poem Optimus started to read. Orion used to quote it, no wonder, if it was his favorite: but Megatron never heard the whole, so he started to listen with fascination.

Optimus' voice was, Megatron realized, enchanting and soothing. No wonder, the Prime was known for his speeches. Megatron used to think those speeches were pathetic – or they were just an imitation of the speeches he himself used to give at the beginning of his career as a revolutionary. Well, it was true, considering everything, that Optimus learned from Megatron – but at the same time, he was bringing his own quality to it. And what he was able to do with his voice… Well, he had the same voice in the past, but now he just used it better. This probably applied many other elements.

This was a long poem, part of some old epic cycle, but here the main topic was romantic love. How fitting.

Megatron forced himself not to comment on the situation – because it would probably destroy it and he must have admitted that the Prime leaning against the shelf, datapad in his hand, looked, very… well.

He was large, but graceful, especially when it came to how his hips moved… the current position exposed this curve and paired up with what Optimus’ voice did with the particular suggestive passages, it made Megatron tremble with anticipation.

Optimus’ eyes were focused entirely on the datapad until he finished. Then he looked at Megatron.

„Well, what do you think?”

„You are doing it of purpose.” Megatron accused him

„Doing what on purpose?”

„Oh, don’t pretend! The choice of the poem. The way you had read it!”

„This? But of course, I’m doing it on purpose. I told you I’m striving to seduce you. You agreed. Or have you changed your mind?”

„No. Not yet” Megatron muttered.

„Good. Can you find something you like, then? I recall you loved to read in the past.”

He did. Despite most reading material is hardly available to the mecha of lower castes, or maybe because of that, as an act of resistance against oppression. This helped him to expand the political views and improve rhetorical skills, but he also found enjoyment in it.

Now, however, he couldn’t think of anything, completely surprised with Optimus’ request.

„I...” he started.

„Take your time. I had time to prepare, so it would be unfair to expect from you know right away what to look for.”

Megatron remembered his last time in the library, air filled with ash, the smell of burned circuitry – from the walls, from someone’s corpse. Despite all of the blind anger stirring inside him back then he regretted bombing the great archive. This act of symbolic barbarity caused him almost physical pain and, on top of everything, he couldn’t stop thinking of how it would hurt Orion.

„I can think of one poem now,” he said. „But it is a sad one… I know you didn’t bring me here to remember bad days, or what I had done to this place before, but when it was in ruin I’ve read… It should be somewhere there…”

He found the correct datapad. The poem was as he remembered it – of destruction, of loss, of broken hopes. It resonated with him back then, when he sat alone in the destroyed archive, slowly starting to understand, that there is no return from the road he had taken, that everything that lies ahead of him is destruction. The poem was called, how fitting, „Megatronus’ Lament”, and it depicted Megatron’s namesake in very similar circumstances, at the beginning of what led him to the ultimate fall.

It was a bad choice after what Optimus was reading. No love, no hope, suggestive phrases here. Just anger and despair. It was, possibly, better than nothing? Or maybe Megatron just needed to return to this poem, to the moment it described for him.

As he finished, he was feeling his spark shrunken inside his frame, the pain almost physical.

The silence fell, long and heavy before Optimus approached and took his hand.

„It is over now,” he said. „It is over. There was a way out for you. You see it now, don’t you?”

Megatron slowly nodded.

„Yes.”

„Come,” Optimus said and embraced him. This was not part of the promised seduction, only reassurance, the hand stroking Megatron’s back, in between the wings, calming and reassuring. „You must have hurt so much. But it is over.”

„I destroyed this place.”

„It is rebuilt.”

„Yes. Thank you for bringing me here. For showing me that there is still hope.”

„There is. There always is. Thank you for trusting me and coming here.”

They broke the embrace, but Optimus took Megatron’s both hands in his. He kept smiling.

He was smiling all the time when they were going back to Earth and to the base and Megatron realized, he was smiling too, which must have looked weird, because his face was not designed for smiling, at least not for non-threatening smiles.

Or maybe this was just another thing he made himself misremember?

***

Megatron really thought this thing in the library would end differently. Until he had been asked to find a poem, he really thought of just shoving Optimus against the nearest shelf. Or let himself being shoved, he wouldn’t mind that too, he discovered to his surprise. Well, many things have changed, apparently.

That the visit to the archive ended in a different way didn’t bother him much. He felt just a little more calm, after getting a glimpse of how Cybertron was rebuilding. Where there were ruins, now there was life again and mecha gathered their knowledge and writing again, for the next generations, that would, hopefully, no commit the same mistakes. Megatron felt happy thinking of that. For the first time in millennia, he felt happiness that didn’t go with someone’s expense, someone’s pain, that didn’t taste bitter.

Of course, he hoped to have the opportunity to go to the archive again in the future. To be able to research all the old and new writings he still didn’t know – and maybe to find suitable erotic poetry to repay Optimus for that last poem… and then, then possibly do some shelves-shoving.

This was, of course, provided Optimus’ attempts at courting and seduction work… but weren’t they working already? This visit to the library, some more simple talks about politics, philosophy, and literature, and the difference between Orion and Optimus blended even more, almost faded. Wasn’t that the aim?

Optimus did as he promised, he rushed nothing, after his pose in the archive, after the way he read the suggestive lines he becomes more tempered. This was… little infuriating. Megatron was never patient, and now he was forced to be patient.

At the same time, it felt good to simply have each other’s company, Megatron was alone for far too long – and he should probably add most of the war to this period of loneliness.

The Autobots on Earth slowly started to look at him differently. He still was something out of order, an anomaly, and there were still comments and whispers, but there were occasional smiles and greetings. Like they were… accepting him? They also give him the cannon back – only Megatron didn’t attach it. Maybe, he was thinking, maybe later, but I don’t need it now.

What he missed though, was touch. Optimus was taking his hands sometimes, waving the fingers together or stroking them, but nothing more – and no wrist kisses. Megatron could go for a wrist kiss.

„Had something changed?” he decided to ask finally after some time passed more or less peacefully.

„What do you mean?” Optimus asked.

„After our visit to the archive… I thought it went well.”

„It did.”

„But you are calm now and I’m… Well, you know I was never among the most patient people. So I am getting impatient.”

„For what?” there was a mischievous note in Optimus’ voice and Megatron couldn’t decide if he likes it or hates it more.

Sor seeing you stretched like where you stood under the shelves, he thought. For your arms around me. For things I know you are thinking about before you recharge.

But he decided to play the game and apparently one of the rules was to remain patient for as long as possible.

„For what you might think of next wor what you called „date”. I’m waiting. Because” he couldn’t stop himself. „If you don’t want it, then I will take it as a sign you want to change our arrangement.”

„I don’t want to change it. Tell me, is there something you would like to do?”

Megatron shook his head. The idea of „dating” had some appeal, but he never did it… back before the war, they didn’t have much opportunity to simply go out somewhere together. They managed to visit one or two oilhouses where the difference in social status was more or less ignored – but the celebrity status of a gladiatorial champion made it obvious for some, that this relationship was a casual hookup, because what else could it be.

„Show me something worth visiting on this planet” Megatron suggested. „Someplace that is impressive and will make me reconsider how I view all this organic dirt around. I admit the sea was quite impressive.”

„I accept the challenge,” Optimus said. „There are many places on earth you might like, I hope. But some of them might include local vegetation.”

„There is enough vegetation around the base. I can get used to it. Find something. Impress me.”

„Oh, I strive to impress you.” The smile, wide, happy and promising, returned to Optimus’ face.

Slag, Megatron thought, because what this smile caused was even more anticipation.

But maybe it was a good thing.

This had to take some time, again, although finding an impressive place on Earth needed less time than arranging safe passage from the spacebridge to the Iacon great archive. Meanwhile, though Megatron allowed himself to attempt flirting – a little, nothing serious, but provoking Optimus for one more smile, taking initiative when it came to touching hands, brushing arms against each other, trying to form compliments. Those actions rewarded him some pleased humms and some long, affectionate glances. The mecha at the base noticed, of course, and Megatron just ignored ith. He might as well get used to that.

***

The groundbridge closed behind their back and Megatron found himself standing on the top of a large waterfall flowing into the wide valley filled with some kind of mist. It was early morning, with the sky still dark, a little gray on the east, where the sun started to rise. At this time, the human facility on the other side of the waterfall was empty, so they could stand here without being seen.

The sun rose and the water started to glister – and the light reflected in little droplets sprang into a full-color spectrum. Against the white-gray of the mist, it was even more visible. Could water really do something like that?

The landscape changed, sun going up, mist disappearing, colors changed. Even the vegetation didn’t look as dirt from the distance.

Not as stunning as some other landscapes Megatron had seen, on inorganic planets, or as some nebulas, but quite pretty indeed.

And, with a stunning mech by his side, this was a nice place for a trip. Megatron turned towards Optimus with the intention of saying something, but before he managed to form the words, he saw a flying object approaching above them.

It could be a human aircraft, in theory. It was not. As a mech with the purple symbol on his plating landed on the top of the cliff, nest to them, Megatron felt mere and more annoyed.

He recognized this one, of course. Fracture, that was it. Quite smart, he remembered.

„Megatron!” Fracture exclaimed. „So it is the truth! Not only are you still around, but you abandoned us! How low had you fallen!”

Well, at least he was not a complete idiot like the previous Decepticon who attacked them was.

„Let me guess? You will kill me and every Decepticon scattered across the universe will come to you, nice and obedient?” Megatron smiled. This was a menacing smile, this he could do.

„I will kill you, I will kill the Prime, after that the whole galaxy will fear me!”

All right, Megatron though, I was mistaken.

„You are an idiot after all.”

Fracture laughed.

„You don’t even have your cannon!”

„I killed stronger opponents without it. Come, bring it on! Show me, what you are worth.”

Optimus just shook his head, but he did not oppose that. And Megatron smiled in anticipation.

Orion was against gladiatorial matches, but at the end, on the day he enjoyed watching his lover fight. A contradiction, yes – and the Prime was not free of it either. Showing his skills was always a good idea when you wanted to impress someone.

And the fight made this entire „date” much more interesting.

He waited for Fracture to attack and avoided the strike with ease. Fracture was quick, bur Megatron had had quicker opponents.

„Is that all?” he mocked his former subordinate. „You can do better than that.”

Fracture smirked.

„Oh, but I can do better. Do you think I am an idiot to go against you AND the Prime unprepared?”

Something buzzed and hummed below them and behind them, the sound louder than the roar of water in the waterfall. A swarm – small, but a swarm nevertheless – of Insecticons was approaching.

This, Megatron though, is impressive. Fracture managed to gather the creatures and to lead them. Not every mech was able to do it.

„It seems that we will have more fun, Optimus!” Megatron exclaimed.

He didn’t need to hide the excitement, and judging from the blink in the blue eyes and from the sound of battlemask snapping in place, the Prime was intending to have fun as well.

It was like they had it in their coding forever – to stand back to back. The same thing they did once before, fighting Unicron. The moves too coordinated for it to be an accident – an effect of long millennia of fighting against each other, of observing and learning each other’s tactics.

And this time it was not going to be just a temporary truce. This time they were going to stay like this – an that brought Megatron immense joy.

The Prime had his blaster and axe – Megatron had only his fists this time, so he concentrated at those insecticons Optimus didn’t manage to shoot. The swarm was never an easy opponent, even the weaker insecticons still were hard enough to fight, and there was one big one, comparable with Hardshell in size – leader of this swarm, maybe.

And there still was Fracture, not approaching, but shooting from behind the attacking swarm.

„Cover me,” Megatron said. „I’ll get to them.”

„Both at the same time?” Optimus protested. „This can be too much even for you.”

„Maybe, but as soon as we get rid of them we can return to what we had been doing previously.”

„On the other hand, I’d prefer you without damage,” Optimus said.

„Noted. Cover me and I will be at your use after this ends.”

He was rewarded with laughter.

Oh, the anticipation of what was promised was also bringing him joy.

Megatron transformed into his flyer mode and lifted in the air to approach Fracture and the large insecticon beside him. Then he returned to root mode to just jump at them from above, knocking Fracture to the ground. Something cracked inside the mech as he fell into the river, his back kibble hitting the rock.

He got up slowly. Megatron noticed that no vital components were damaged, but Fracture would have problem changing modes and using jets.

Good.

„Not very fair combat, to use cannon fodder.” Megatron noticed, as Fracture approached him again.

„I don’t want a fair combat” Fracture stated. „I want to kill both of you.”

„Oh, for that you definitely have too little cannon fodder,” Megatron said, avoiding another strike. He kept watching for the large insecticon though. This one was really a challenge, and he promised the Prime to go out of the fight without much damage.

And here it came – a massive claw, that would be able to pierce Megatron’s chest and get to the spark without any effort fell and barely slid on the surface of the wing. Megatron hissed. The scratch was not serious, but wings were sensitive on every flightframe.

A slow but strong opponent and a nimble, fast one – no problem fighting with one, but from some arena combats Megatron knew how dangerous it was to watch for both at the same time. And Fracture, despite not being very wise, was aware of the strategy, so he adjusted his attacks, striking each time when Megaron was distracted by insecticon’s powerful blow.

This was going to be harder than Megatron initially believed. And he decided to leave the cannon at the Autobot base. Foolish.

He looked back, to the Prime occupied with the swarm. Optimus was doing good. Megatron just needed some time, and something to…

He saw a dead insecticon nearby. This can do, he decided.

He jumped out of the roaring water, rolled from under another strong blow of the large bug and grabbed the corpse. He tore the claws off, now having makeshift blades. Not perfect, not designed for him, not fused with his frame, but expanding his reach significantly.

He used one of them to parr the attack from Fracture, then made a turn to hit the large insecticon. The claw hooked on the seam in the plating and with some stronger pull it made a fold in the metal. There were wires underneath. Now, to get to them…

Meanwhile Fracture changed the weapon to blaster again and Megatron must have adjusted the pattern of his evasions.

Another strong blow from the insecticon. Too much, almost too much.

He avoided it, but miscalculated and tripped on the rock. Which he could have used to his advantage, if he was fighting only one opponent: but with two it was hard to use the impact of attacking insecticon against it, while simultaneously avoid this blaster just pointed at his head…

A flash of blue and red appeared, jumping at Fracture, knocking him down again. Megatron grinned, and while the insecticon attempted to take a blow, he pushed the makeshift blade in the exposed wires.

Charge cracked, as some cabling was pierced, along with the energon line. The insecticon let out a squeak and got, for a moment, paralyzed by the incorrectly conducted charge. Megatron used this and his current position to strike a powerful blow with his legs, kicking the huge bug out the edge, in the roaring waterfall.

Next to him, Optimus was standing over Fracture. A large gash made with ax cut the Decepticon from the shoulder down to the spark chamber and the frame started to discolor already. Around them, the remaining insecticons started to fly away.

Megatron stood up.

„Well, this will do it,” he said. „And I’m not very damaged, for your information. I think it will be enough for whatever plans you have for me.”

This sounded suggestive. This was aimed to sound suggestive.

The Prime’s mask retracted.

He looked more or less undamaged too, apart from some minor scratches and energon stains.

„So, you didn’t tell me how you like the view” Optimus asked.

Megatron looked at the remains of unfortunate mech below his feet. The battle systems were still active, and he felt the thrill and joy of fight and killing – not something he was ever going to get rid of.

„We were interrupted before I was able to do it.”

„And now we can enjoy the view again,” Optimus said. „Before we… well”

He was behind him now and approaching, his chestplate close to the wings on Megatron’s back. And his hands… At first, Optimus’ fingers hovered over the place, where the wing was damaged and then both of his hands landed on Megatron’s waist and it felt like this was something Optimus really couldn’t wait to do. Possibly he had been thinking of it since when Megatron was brought to Autobot base.

Megatron struggle not to turn on the fans, but his frame was already heated after the battle. Fighting had an effect on him. It always had and Optimus knew it and experienced too.

Megatron cleared his vocalizer.

„I appreciate the view. The vegetation adds to the unique color palette, it’s… exotic. But I can see the appeal. I think, as long I’m stuck on this planet I might as well get used to it.”

„You mean, you like it,” Optimus said, resting his chin on Megatron’s massive shoulder.

„I like that I am here with you.”

Optimus chuckled and Megatron felt it as a vibration in his frame.

Slag this, he thought. Slag the Prime, slag all this ridiculous situation. I’ve lost. I’ve lost at the very moment I told him I agree. Because he was right, he had been able to succeed then and now he did it again. Slag him.

Megatron slowly slid from under those really nice hands and turned around to look at the other mech. It took him a while, before he was able to speak – meanwhile Optimus put his hands on Megatron’s shoulders.

„I think you did it,” he admitted. You won your game. I’m starting to fall in love with you again.”

I already am here, he thought. I might be for a while now.

The hands from slid down from shoulders to arms and then moved to the waist again. He just couldn’t help, apparently

„I noticed,” Optimus said. „I just wanted you to admit it.”

„Well, here you have me.”

„And I am happy. May I kiss you?”

Megatron’s fans started instantly, frame getting impossibly hot. Those hands on him. Those lips asking for kissing.

„If you do it,” he said „Then we will have a problem, because we will either have to find a comfortable flat surface, possibly...” he looked around, at this so-called grass „...with little organic filth, and with no corpse around, or we will have to find someone who will replace my cooling fans because they are on the verge of malfunction recently.”

„I don’t want your fans to malfunction” Optimus agreed, pulling him closer. „I will find you a flat surface with no organic filth and no dead bodies. I don’t think any of us would like to interface beside one. Is the base close enough?”

„Acceptable.”

„Good,” Optimus said and gave him a kiss, or rather just a quick, disappointing smooch with closed lips.

„This is not a kiss” Megatron protested. „Give me a proper one!”

Optimus laughed.

„Of course,” he said

This one was a proper one, oh, Primus and Unicron both, it was. It was strong and fierce and aggressive and affectionate at the same time. Some of Orion’s kisses in the past were a little like this, but then there wasn’t a large frame build for fight pressed against Megatron’s, there weren’t those powerful roaring engines, and strong hands, one of those was now placed on Megatron’s waist, and the second one moved slowly to the back, below the place when the wings ended. This hand, if it moved a little more down, would be able to cup Megatron’s aft. No, in the past Orion was demanding sometimes, denying it would be falsifying their relationship, but this amount of bold initiative was new and Megatron found himself like that.

He was never a person who was submitting easily. He had his reasons for that, but those were long gone.

So many things were gone. What mattered was now: Optimus pressing his glossa inside Megatron’s mouth, finally, after all the millennia of longing. It was like everything was in its place.

Megatron Put one of his hands on Optimus’ chest, because, slag, this large frame was just too tempting not to touch. Not that he didn’t do it before, but all their battles and even their recent sparring – this was something entirely else. And there was this nice seam just under a windshield and also hadn’t been those exposed cables on Optimus’ neck always begging for being licked and bitten?

So he proceeded to lick and bite them as soon as their lips parted and he heard with satisfaction Optimus’ cooling fans spinning up.

If he allowed this for longer, the organic filth wouldn’t be a valid excuse.

As if he needed excuses.

„The base,” Optimus said, in between moans. That neck cabling was always really sensitive. The noises he made were exactly as Megatron remembered. „I don’t want your fans to malfunction or… oh! The dirt to go in between your plating.”

„I’d rather have your fingers there” Megatron stated, and then he moaned himself because indeed, Optimus’ fingers just found a sensitive and rather deep seam on his hip. At the same time, the palm of this hand covered a rather good portion of his aft. „Damn you are large!”

„Oh, you will see I am” Megatron heard and he shivered, because this suggested… well… „Do you miss little Orion?”

„Not anymore. I want you as you are now. And I want you now. Call the bridge.”

***

It took some time to return to the base, to inform the mecha there that [] is dead and lies on top of the place that was supposedly called Victoria Falls in Africa – and that there are some dead insecticons around as well, a large one either dead or badly damaged at the bottom of the river below and some scattered, that needed to be hunted down before they make a mess.

„We will take care of them” Bumblebee promised.

For his team this was an exercise, Megatron was aware of that, so he didn’t protest. Let the younger mecha go, let them leave the base almost empty. He didn’t want to go with them, despite he was offered it – quite nice proof of some kind of trust.

As the Autobots were preparing to go do damage control, both Megatron and Optimus used their time to clean up and fix the scratches. This was taking too much time already, in Megatron’s opinion. He was promised a flat surface as soon as they get to the base.

On the other hand, he understood the need to fix at least some of the mess that remained. And interfacing while having someone’s energon spilled allover their frames had its appeal but maybe not at this moment. So he was patient, for the one last time, he promised to himself. Then, then his patience is over.

He waited, patiently, when the Autobots were leaving. Only throwing some promising glances at Optimus.

„Are you going, Optimus?” Strongarm asked.

The Prime shook his head.

„I have… other things to take care of here.”

Some optics looked towards Megatron. No chance for a hundred percent privacy at this place.

But they left, finally, they left both of them alone in the large hanger where the groundbridge operating machinery was.

They looked at each other.

„Well?” Optimus said.

„We wasted enough time,” Megatron answered him.

And they were embracing and kissing again, fans on maximum, the Prime’s hands finding all the places he must have stopped exploring previously.

Moving to the berthroom was reasonable but hard and they hit several walls in the process, probably leaving small, but telling paint transfers until they hit Optimus’ berth finally, Megatron on his back, again, Optimus with his hands all over his frame.

It was a new experience, to have such huge hands roaming on his plating, to have so much roaring power pressing you down, and despite he remembered where his preferences went in the past, Megatron was far too thrilled to do it the other way now.

„I don’t feel like spiking you,” He said. His interfacing array was already taking too much operational space and the algorithm suggested parting legs and retracting the panel.

Because it could be something Optimus expected from him, remembering how did this side of their relationship looked in the past.

But Optimus only smiled.

„Good,” he said. „Because I was going to ask you to let me take care of you.”

„Take care of me… You had it planned?”

„Except for the attack, more or less” Optimus agreed. His hands roamed on Megatron’s tighs and on the hip seams. „When I promised to court you and seduce you, I also meant giving you as many overloads as you can take.”

Megatron groaned at this promise, but the sound he made was muffled with another kiss. Some of the sensors in his mouth were already numb and resetting from all the kisses. He felt Optimus’ palm sliding in between his tighs and he didn’t even have to give the command to his panel to fold away because it already did.

„Oh, you are already wet” Optimus muttered, and Megatron felt his fingers on the rim of his valve.

„It’s your fault” Megatron answered, trying not to move his hips in an embarrassing way to meet those fingers – and failing. „Oh. Frag.”

„Slowly, slowly.” Optimus’ lips were now on his neck, in the hidden, sensitive spot just below the brim of the helm. Orion liked to kiss this place in the past and when he was putting his glossa there, in this hard to find seam…

This was however never combined before with fingers exploring his valve and node, so the sound Megatron made was definitely one of the embarrassing ones.

„You call it slowly?” he asked.

Optimus didn’t ask, his lips already going down Megatron’s chest, while one of the hands was still working on the valve and the second one stroked one of the tighs. But the first hands were quickly replaced with the mouth, and Megatron shouted again, feeling the slow, soft strokes on the sensors around the rim of the valve and on the anterior node.

Where the Pit had Optimus learned it, Megatron in the past was not among the mecha who give access to his valve lightly… not even to his lover. He should… he should allow this earlier, this was lots of talent wasted…

He reached his hand to stroke one of the finials he was now seeing between his tights. It twitched, but Optimus didn’t lose his concentration and dedication to the task. Only the hand roaming on Megatron’s thigh pressed harder – and then the glossa found the valve opening and pressed in for a moment, searching for all the sensors that were already activated by Optimus’ fingers. This time Megatron tried not to shout – he failed.

Optimus withdraw the tongue, muttered something, that was inaudible, because he returned his attention to the node, sucking on it hard – and trusting his fingers in Megatron’s valve at the same time.

This was too much. All the anticipation built before, all the tension, and now those lips and those fingers, and the entrancing sight of blue finials moving with dedication. It just exploded white in front of Megatron’s eyes.

When he looked up, Optimus was no longer licking his valve but was looking at him, his face glistering with lubricants. He also still had his fingers inside, and they were scissoring, and Megatron gasped, caught in aftershocks.

Optimus moved up and Megatron felt something hard and hot on his thigh. Definitely not a hand. He looked there.

„Damn, you are big,” he said.

„I told you. Do you like it?”

Megatron sat up, reached with his hand. The size might have changed, which was an interesting development, but the shape was probably the same he remembered, and there was still that ridge on the bottom… He stroked it with one finger.

„I definitely needed to have it inside me more often.”

„You were not very eager for it.”

„Well, I guess we have both changed.”

„Yes,” Optimus agreed, leaning to kiss him while guiding his spike to Megatron’s valve. „Oh, I missed you” he muttered, sinking inside wit one stroke, that felt amazing. „I missed you,” he said again, stroking Megatron’s face.

Megatron didn’t answer that, he just wrapped his legs on the Prime’s hips, urging him to move. Optimus grabbed Megatron’s waist to get better leverage.

Seen from this perspective, he looked even larger than in reality, although he was slightly smaller than Megatron was.

The ridge on Optimus’ spike dragged on the row of sensor nodes inside Megatron’s valve and Megatron needed to claw at the surface of the breth to get better leverage to push against it. Too good, too damn good. The sole sensation of being fragged like this, and this absolute dedication on Optimus’ face. Unbearable, too intense, too overwhelming: and there was no escape from it, and turning the eyes away was just impossible, even if Megatron wanted it. Optimus had told him he intended to seduce him and that was exactly what he did – and he did even more than that.

Was it ever as intense as this? Megatron thought, but before this thought developed into another, the overload overcome him. His frame got tense, valve cycled down, legs clamped over Optimus’ hips. Almost too much. Completely perfect.

With his eyes hazed, the valve still pulsing in the aftershock, Megatron watched Optimus going tense and overloading above him.

The joints and cabling in his legs just needed a little time to function properly again, but he didn’t mind. This feeling of being all limp, relaxed, of not being ready to fight all the time – Megatron almost forgot how did it feel.

His fans were calming down slowly, some cabling in his lower body was still twitching. It felt good, maybe too good.

Optimus embraced him, stroking his arms, chest, and waist, face pressed to his shoulder.

Megatron remembered, how it was, holding Orion after interfacing, the archivist's little frame limp, unable to move… but possibly, this was again the false selection of memories. Like he had chosen only those, who fitted the certain picture of Orion he had, he wanted to have.

And suddenly Megatron realized something. He forced himself to move, to roll over so that he could look Optimus in the eyes.

„I was so very wrong,” he said.

„Wrong?”

„Yes.” he put his hand on the Prime’s cheek. „But I was right that I didn’t love you for all those millennia. Because I didn’t. I loved Orion who never existed.”

„I admit I don’t understand.”

„I loved real Orion, once. This is true. But then, as he… as you changed, as you took the Matrix and I failed to understand this was still you… I created some kind of a construct in my processor. The perfect Orion, who was everything I then believed I loved in you. He was smart, yes, and he was kind – well you always were like this, smart and kind – but at the same time he was… passive. Obedient. Compliant. Maybe weak.” Megatron shook his head. „Which was not true. It never was. You were always strong, you always had your opinions, you argued with me over so many things. You took the initiative when it was needed and you defended what you believed was right. You were never afraid of me. And I made myself forget it. Because sweet little Orion was not you. He was a safe fantasy for a madmech I was – he didn’t protest, he always complied, he would never take the Matrix and the power I always wanted.. For all the millennia, I missed a mech who had never existed.”

„Oh,” Optimus said.

„Well, at least… I least you had more common sense, you know?” Megatron stroke the other mech’s cheek. „And deep in my spark, I missed you. The real you. I wanted the „perfect” Orion back, but I couldn’t get him and even when you told me you always loved me… Thank you. I needed to get rid of this fantasy that never existed. You… you are much, much better.”

Optimus shook his head.

„I never stopped to have hope. Never.”

„This is how you won this war. With hope and patience. And now, your victory is complete.”

„You know it is not like this.”

„You got my spark. What is that if not a victory?

„Oh?” Optimus asked. „Remember, that you have my spark as well. You had always had it. How would you call that?”

**Author's Note:**

> This plot bunny grew too big to contain literally overnight. Now I'm finished with it and I can go back to writing Strangers in a Strange Land.
> 
> But, listen: Megatron being sad, tired and needing hugs is my weakness.


End file.
